NFL Draft Guru’s Insight Could Influence Patriots’ Second-Round Decision

The Patriots went safe with their first-round pick, but they could excite fans with a stronger Day 2 on Friday.

New England drafted Will Campbell with the fourth overall pick after not receiving trade calls. The LSU product fills a need for the Patriots, but offensive tackles don’t often excite fans as skill players do.

That could be the approach Mike Vrabel and the front office take, especially if a renowned NFL draft guru’s intuition is proven correct.

“I believe we’ll see an early run on WRs tonight,” NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah posted on X on Friday. “(Luther) Burden, (Jayden) Higgins, (Jaylin) Noel etc… There’s also a really valuable group of edge guys that should fly off the board soon.”

Three wide receivers were selected in the first round Thursday. It’s possible teams were waiting until the second round to pick the best of the remaining pass-catchers. New England enters Day 2 in an opportune position to draft one of those wide receivers with the No. 38 pick. There was buzz around Higgins that suggested the Iowa State product could be selected in the first round. That didn’t happen, but if the Patriots are interested in the wideout, they probably would need to trade up.

All Patriots fans are hoping for is that if New England does take a wide receiver, that player is better than 2024 second-rounder Ja’Lynn Polk.